Clad in fluffy slippers and dressing gowns, filming for Snapchat or going live on TikTok they gathered outside Strangeways prison.
Their attention on a man in a bin bag on the roof in the fading light and drizzle.
Officers had swarmed the streets around the perimeter of the city centre prison shortly after 4:30pm, cordoning off roads and warning those who stopped to quickly snap their own pictures to swiftly move away from the scene.
